Reports, proud muckraking, photos, videos and musings from the veteran LGBT and AIDS human rights advocate Michael Petrelis. Based in San Francisco since 1995.
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Saturday, August 10, 2013

Russian Gay Leader Alexeyev Organizes Song Contest Boycott

To anyone who has asked, Russia's gay activist Nicholai Alexeyev has voiced disapproval of Western LGBT advocates organizing boycotts of Russian vodka and the Sochi Olympics.

As I showed on Friday, he opposes those boycotts prompted by anti-gay laws and violence harming thousands of Russian LGBT people, but in October 2010 he launched a boycott of Swiss Air because of his alleged kidnapping by Russian security forces before he boarded a flight in Moscow to Geneva, where he resides part-time.

A reader reminded me that was not the only boycott the wealthy activist has spearheaded.

The UK Gay News site in May 2009 reported that after Alexeyev attempted to stage a gay rights march in Moscow was brutally dispersed by Russian police officers, he began a boycott of a song contest wildly popular in Europe:

“I
call upon all of the artists who are due to perform at tonight’s Eurovision
[song contest finale] to boycott the event and send a message that Russia‘s state
oppression of human rights is not acceptable,” said Nikolai Alekseev, chief
organiser of the Pride.

Perhaps one of the reasons why he doesn't back the boycott efforts against Stoli and all Russian vodkas, and the Sochi games, is because he's not in charge of the boycotts. Since he was so willing to boycott Swiss Air and the Eurovision event, we know he likes using the tactics to bring about media attention and social change.Alexeyev should be pouring Stolichnaya down the sewers of Geneva and Moscow, the two cities where he resides, in a show of solidarity with Western gays.